Broken
by Verixon
Summary: A different take on the Battle of Trost.


Warning: Character death.

* * *

><p>"Eren, hurry!" a shout breaks through Armin's lips, as his hands remain upwards and his eyes unblinking. His eyes never blink. Not when his friend gets swallowed. Not when the remaining arm lands beside him. Not even when the blood lands in between his eyes.<p>

"Eren," Armin repeats in a barely audible whisper. His eyes still remain unblinking as he watches the titan slowly lumbers away. _Why didn't I do anything?_

"Eren." he stares at his hands as they start to shake. _Why am I weak?_

_"You okay, Armin?"_

"Eren." he gets up to stand on shaky legs. His eyes start to blink rapidly, trying to keep himself from crying. _Why am I afraid?_

_"You told me about it...so I'm going...to the outside world."_

The pent-up anger was eating his inside.

"EREN!" he suddenly grabs his blades and runs towards the titan. "I won't let you get away with this!" he screams in rage at the titan as he fires a pair of hooks to the nape of the titan. Quickly reeling in, he slashes down and metal meets flesh.

It wasn't the cleanest kill. His face was covered in blood, but he didn't care. He starts hacking away at the back of the titan. Clinging on to a non-existent thread of hope for Eren to be alive.

"Hey, Armin! Armin!" a hand roughly grabs his shoulder. He turns around, bewildered at the sight of Connie shouting at his face. "What are you doing? It's dead already."

He looks at the titan to discover that it's almost completely bones. "By the way, where's the rest of your squad?" Connie looks around before his eyes lands on an arm dangling from one of the roofs.

"Don't bother asking," Ymir cuts in. "It's obvious what happened." she points at the smashed form of another trainee soldier nearby.

"Y-You c-can't mean-" Connie stutters.

"They got wiped out," finishes Ymir with a bored tone.

"O-Oi, we don't know that yet. Armin hasn't said anything." Connie turns around to face Armin, but he wasn't there. "Hey! Armin, where are you going?" he shouts at the form of Armin zipping away.

_'I'm going to kill them. _Armin thinks to himself. _I'm going to kill them all._

It didn't take long before he spots another titan. He quickly charges in, before a giant hand nearly grabs him. He quickly swings to a safe distance before analyzing the situation. Two 15m class titan were in front of him and he spots an abnormal not so far away. A small tug pulls up against his lips as he charges in.

* * *

><p><em>'Eren, please be safe.'<em> Mikasa thinks to herself as she flies through the city. It didn't take long until she spots something she didn't expect. It was Armin and he was fighting a group of titans.

Surprisingly, he was doing quite well—he even took down one of them—until he started to pant. Mikasa quickly heads towards Armin but it was too late. After reeling towards the nape of a titan, Armin slashes down, but it wasn't deep enough and the titan's hand suddenly encompasses him.

"Armin!" Mikasa shouts as she speeds up. She latches a hook on to the hand of the titan and reels in. She cuts off the fingers and grabs on to Armin.

"Mikasa." Armin stares dumbly at her, before his eyes widen. "Behind you!"

Mikasa spins around in mid-air and her eyes widen in surprise at the sight of an abnormal jumping towards her. She only has enough time to let go of Armin before the titan's mouth closes on her.

"MIKASA!" Armin shouts in despair as he crashes to the ground. Quickly getting up, he sends a hook towards the closest building and lets out a burst of gas, but comes crashing down on the cobblestone street seconds later.

"Damn it! I'm out of gas," he curses as he throws the useless gas tanks away. He then starts to mutter to himself darkly, "I'll destroy you. I'll destroy every one of you. Just like what you did to my friends."

The ground starts to shake and the sound of giant footsteps reaches his ears. Looking behind him, Armin stares at the smiling face of a 7m titan. "Looks like you're first."

A wicked smile spreads across his face.

He releases his old blades and grabs a new pair. The titan's hand comes down to grab him but he quickly cuts the fingers off and jumps on top of the arm. Sprinting across the arm, his eyes carefully watch as the other arm comes towards him. When the other arm was close, he jumps on it and jumps again, but towards the face of the titan instead. Landing on the bridge of the nose, he plunges both of the blades in each eye socket of the titan. Using the nose as a base, he kicks away as the titan's hands covers its face.

He grins in satisfaction as the titan loses balance and crashes forward. He then starts to climb and walks towards the nape before the eyes could regenerate. He raises his blades and cuts of the nape. Dulling both of the blades in the process.

As the battle ends, the adrenaline that previously fueled him to fight was now gone. He falls of the titan and starts to pant on the blood soaked ground. Using his blades as support, he attempts to stand up. But the dulled blades snap under the pressure and he falls down again.

"Shit." a frown appears on his lips as he stares at the broken blades. "That was my last pair." he grabs one of the blades and twiddles with it. "They really need to find stronger material."

A sigh escapes his lips as he stands up and throws the blade away.

* * *

><p>Armin walks randomly throughout the maze of alleys and streets of the town. Left, right, left, right. He didn't care which direction he was going.<p>

He eventually runs into a dead body of a garrison soldier which was smashed against the wall of an old building. Quickly grabbing the supply of blades and gas from the fallen soldier, Armin quickly places them in his gear. He couldn't hold back a grimace as he stares at the blood coated gas tanks and blade. Whipping the blood from his hand, he continues to trek forward.

_'Eren first and now Mikasa.'_ Armin clenches his teeth in rage

"Fuck!" Armin punches the wall beside him. He could feel his skin rip apart as he collapses to the ground. "Why?" he stares at his bleeding hand. "Just why?" blood starts to drip to the ground.

_"This is all the titan's fault. If only we could destroy them, we could reclaim the very place we belong. Armin, I'm going to join the cadets next year."_

Armin bangs his fist against the ground in anger. "Damn it! After all the training, all the sweat, blood and tears, and we still can't do anything."

A sob breaks through Armin's lips. "Will all that hard work be in vain? Will _their_ sacrifice be in vain? And it's not just _their_ sacrifice. What about Thomas Wager, Nac Tius, Mylius Zeramuski, Mina Carolina and the rest of the dead cadets, what will happen to their sacrifice as well?!"

Armin looks up with tear filled eyes and glares with hatred at a titan that wasn't so far away. "No. I won't allow it. I will avenge them by killing all of you. Every. Last. One. Of. You." Armin stands up and starts to walk towards the titan. "And no one is going to stop me."

"A-Armin is that you?!" a shout diverts Armin's attention behind him.

Jean was standing there with Connie and the rest of the 104th. But there were also a few Garrison soldiers and Captain Kitts Woerman.

Armin ignores them and continues to walk towards the titan.

"O-Oi, Armin, we got orders to retreat," Jean calls out, but Armin keeps on walking. "Armin! didn't you hear me. We got orders to retreat. Your heading the opposite direction."

Without missing a beat, Armin finally responds with a quiet voice as he continues to walk, "Fuck off."

"What the hell did you just say?!" Jean says incredulously as he starts to march towards Armin.

Connie grabs Jean's shoulder before he could go any further. His eyes carefully watch Armin. "Jean, I don't think it's a good idea."

"I don't care. Someone needs to knock some sense into him." Jean brushes him off.

Marching towards Armin, he shouts, "Armin! What's going on with you." He grabs both of Armin's shoulders from behind and turns him around. "You're going the wrong way. Our orders are to retre-"

He stares down at his stomach which has a blade stabbed into it. "A-Armin, w-why?" He barely whispers out before the blade was pulled out.

His lifeless body crumples to the ground and his blood starts to pool around him.

"I said. Fuck. Off," Armin says with an emotionless tone.

"JEAN! Armin, you bitch! I'll kill you even if it's the last thing I do!" Connie shouts in rage and charges towards Armin, but he was held back by Reiner.

"Don't get yourself killed as well," Reiner says as he holds Connie who is struggling to get out of his grip.

"You traitor!" shouts Kitts. "I shall have you executed on the spot." he grabs his blade and points it towards Armin. "Restrain him!"

The Garrison soldiers quickly rush towards Armin, but Armin swiftly retaliates. He stabs the first one in the gut and slashes off the head of another, but before he can continue on his rampage, a soldier grabs his arm and another grabs the other. The soldiers quickly force him down on his knees.

"Why, Armin? Just tell me why, goddamnit!" Connie shouts as he still struggles against Reiner.

Armin faces Connie with a blank gaze as his head was pressed against the ground. "I broke." the tone was so cold that Connie flinches back in surprise

Before Connie can ask any more questions, Kitts approaches Armin with his blades raised.

"Any last words?" He asks, not expecting a reply.

"Fuck you!" Armin spits on his face, before the blade comes down. And metal meets flesh.


End file.
